New study shows rats become more lazy when subject to THC

It may not sound like a surprise to some, the fact that rats become more lazy when subject to THC, but now researchers have empirical proof.

Officially known as tetrahydrocannabinal, it’s the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana and the study determined they were less willing to try a cognitively demanding task.

“Even though the rats were capable of performing a more difficult task, they just didn’t want to,” said UBC PHD candidate Mason Silveira who completed the study. “When you hear anecdotal stories it tells you one thing but it’s important to know for sure in the labs, especially with cannabis being used by more and more people and the fact we’ll see reforms in the cannabis laws.”

Silveira says the lab he works in is generally interested in how different drugs affect your decision making process.

“Decisions that we try to model are the kind of decisions where you have to spend more cognitive energy,” he said.

“These are important and if you think of those who use this on a daily basis, it’s important to look at how that might affect their decision making process.

And on another note, it did leave some of his subjects with the “munchies.”

“I noticed right after the test that some were really hungry,” he said. “There’s lots of work that we haven’t done that shows THC has a lot of benefits in treating things like neuropathic pain. I think it’s important we show people if they’re going to use it there may be a few undesirable side-affects.”

Silveira says with these conclusions he’s taking a short break from the cannabis study but is continuing to look at how certain drugs affect the thought process.